Park City Mountain Resort Blog

Current Conditions

I was up on the mountain this past Sunday and Monday and I wanted to quickly note some thoughts on the current conditions. I spent several hours on Sunday doing laps on First Time lift with my 2 1/2 year old daughter and a friend or hers and I can now assure everyone that skiing with a youngster will keep you warm no matter what the temperature. Also, I'll vouch that First Time and Turtle Trail runs are in perfect shape for anyone looking for a beginner experience - the kids were bummed when we had to leave as they wanted to do more runs!

On Monday, I spent the morning at a conference and then snuck back to the resort along with several other attendees to show them around. We started with several laps off Bonanza lift, where conditions were very nice, with natural snow mixed in with man-made. We also noted the progress being made by the snowmaking team on Jonesy's, Silver Queen and Claimjumper. After that, we dropped back down to PayDay lift for several more runs, including this video that I shot (sorry if the quality is a bit off, I took it with my phone), of the 2nd half of Payday run. The snow surface was easily turnable and the fresh stuff mixed with the natural made for a really fun afternoon. Here's the video:

See you on the slopes!

Industrial Winter part 2

Cold is here as promised; very cold indeed. The last few mornings near zero with high temps barely making it to the teens. As we are now finally skiing and working out of the Summit, I've been meaning to tip my hat to those responsible. The snowmakers have a tough and dangerous job. They spend their shifts running around in the dark in sub-zero temps, working with pressurized water and air lines under the very loud and very wet snowguns. On years like this when we have 5 inches of natural snow at the Summit, we simply would not be working and you would not be recreating here without them. If you see the team in black coming off the mountain after their shifts or heading up the mountain while you are on your way to the bar, be sure to thank them.

Yesterday Colin and I took a ride up the Jupiter chair to set up our weather station for the season. There is actually more snow on the ground than we anticipated; 17 inches on our total stake. While the surroundings looked grim for December at 10,000 ft, 
the ridgetop west winds were cranking and it seems we are indeed in for a change in the flow pattern. The next week looks to be unsettled with a dusting of snow overnight, a larger storm Monday and Tuesday and another towards the end of the week. The last couple seasons mid and late December have been good to us. Remember the 36 inch Christmas eve storm last year? We can only wait and hope.

Cold temps mean more openings!

As Mark wrote in his Industrial Winter post, it's been getting cold and staying cold, which has allowed our slope maintenance team of snowmakers and groomers to work their magic in getting things prepped for  us to be able to open the upper mountain, serviced by Bonanza lift, on Friday!

Here's a detailed list of what we'll be opening on Friday and Saturday:

Friday, December 4
Bonanza lift with access to Upper Homerun and Bonanza run First Time run
The Summit House will open at 9 a.m. and serve beverages and snacks until 10:30 a.m. Lunch will be served from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday, December 5
Town Lift will open for uploading and downloading only
Gorgoza Park will open for the season

Terrain Park Updates
Upper Homerun includes a triple jump line with 25', 35' and 45' jumps and 4 jib features
Lower Homerun has two smaller jumps and 6 jib features
Payday Jib Park has 8 jib features

In case you were wondering how things are looking up top, here are some photos I took this morning, enjoy and keep doing those snow dances!

Industrial Winter

It is Wednesday afternoon. In my effort to post more regularly this season, I have assigned myself Wednesdays. We DID pick up a trace of actual snow last night. I know, a trace does not a storm make, but at least frozen water fell out of the sky. What has/will help with our snowmaking efforts is the much colder air which moved over the Intermountain West last night. At this moment I am at our Summit Patrol computer at 9300ft and it's 12 degrees. This time yesterday it was 30 up here and the day before 40. Outside the window the "industrial snow" from the snowmaking guns is "falling" hard. In other words, it's dumping from the hoses.

It's supposed to stay cold the next couple days and things are looking good for opening at least part of the Bonanza Zone by the weekend. It will be nice to be working from our Summit "office," I think we're all getting tired of life in Payday Patrol.

Starting off, Thanksgiving 09

So it's again November and we're back; I'm back. About half the patrol is on right now working the 3 runs we have open (thanks to the snowmakers!). I must say those 3 runs are in pretty nice shape and the folks out there seem to be having a fine time. The one joy of a high pressure ridge parked over the Wasatch is it makes for lovely sunny days like today. We are of course longing for snow and the adventures into our upper mountain terrain it provides. Colin, Dave and I (the Snow Safety team) would love to take some walks up high to check things out, but right now I think we're all just happy to be working.

I would like to take a moment to hop on my soapbox and mention something about safe riding habits. Remember that the terrain is limited and many people are out there of all abilities and interests. Please dial it down a bit and be aware of where you are and what's around you. It's a bad scene to get hurt or have your pass pulled this early in the season.

The snow will come and we will get busier doing what we love. In the meantime, we're all gearing up for a big Patroller's Thanksgiving feast tomorrow after work. Kris and Jimmy are hosting the event at their new house in Heber (I trust they know what they are in for!). Happy Thanksgiving, stay safe, and we'll see you out on the hill.

More openings!

Woohoo, we're opening more terrain tomorrow, including 2 runs and the PayDay Jib Park, and Gorgoza Park will open on Friday for the Holiday Weekend. Here are some details (from a note we sent to our Team Members earlier this afternoon):

PayDay and Treasure Hollow runs will open, thanks to the hard work from our dedicated snowmaking and grooming teams. We will also be opening additional terrain park features on PayDay. The park crew plans to open one jump and three new jib features on PayDay. The existing features will remain on Homerun as well.

Gorgoza Park will open for the upcoming weekend, Friday, November 27 - Sunday, November 29. Gorgoza will operate seven tubing lanes and three rope tows. Gorgoza Park hours will be from 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Regular tubing rates will apply over the weekend. A two-hour ticket for ages seven and older is $20. A two-hour ticket for kids ages three to six is $10. Mini Snowmobiles and Fort Frosty will not be operating this weekend. Gorgoza will close Monday, November 30 - Friday, November 4 to complete snowmaking operations for the season. Gorgoza will reopen for the winter season as originally scheduled, Saturday December 5 and remain open through April 4, 2010.

Snowmaking temps are looking decent into next week and with some help from Mother Nature we hope to open to the Summit area next, perhaps as soon as the end of next week. Pray for snow!

Operations Update With Video

This season opened so smooooth thanks to cold temperatures, dedicated personnel and good attitudes. We took advantage of the cold temperatures we had a couple weeks ago and made a lot of snow. Even though the temps soared over 60 degrees the base hung in there quite well. With the latest cold snap the snowmaking department put us over the top with great snow coverage. Throw in a lot of hard work and professionalism from every department and we ended up with exceptional results for opening day. Thank you to all our guests that made opening day a success.

We're making snow on First Time, Payday, Treasure Hollow, Pick 'n' Shovel and the half pipe. We think we'll have Payday and Treasure Hollow by next Wednesday if not sooner. We shot a little video to give you a first hand look.

First Chair of the 2009-2010 Season

Opening day was a huge success thanks to the hard work of the entire Park City Mountain Resort team. Our slope maintenance team did a fantastic job ensuring that the open runs had excellent conditions. Plus, our terrain park crew built what many were calling the "best opening day park ever!"

The morning started off really early for those who wanted the honor of being on the first chair. Interested in being on the first chair for the 2010-2011 season? This year's "first chair team" has some advice:

And in case you are interested. Here's a video showing "How to turn a six-pack chairlift into a seven-pack lift". It's pretty comical:

If you were up here today, I'd love to hear what you thought of opening day conditions.

Opening day details!

Fresh off the presses from our media release, here are the details on what we're going to be opening for this Saturday:

The Resort is scheduled to have two runs available to guests on opening day. These include Homerun, serviced by PayDay lift, and Turtle Trail, serviced by First Time lift, with additional terrain available as conditions permit. Park City Mountain Resort will also open with an early season terrain park on Homerun including two jumps and 10 features.  Lift ticket pricing on opening day is as follows:

• Adults (ages 13 and up): $50 full-day/$35 half-day
• Children (ages 7-12): $30 full-day/$20 half-day
• Children six and under ski free with a paying adult

Additional Park City Mountain Resort operations scheduled to begin on Saturday, November 21 include the following:
Legacy Sports: 8:00 am. – 6:00 p.m.
Alpine Coaster: noon – 4:00 p.m.
Kristi's Coffee Café: 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Legacy Café: 10:30 a.m. –  3:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. (updated)
Legends Bar & Grill: 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. 

I hope to see everyone up this weekend for the first turns of what will be a great season! And, be sure to check our blog and our Twitter account as we will be posting details on terrain openings and any other operating changes as they are announced.

Grooming for opening day.

Groomers are "gitin er done".  Check out the preparation for opening day.